The present invention relates to footwear, and more particularly to a sandal construction and a method for manufacturing the same.
Sandals are available in a wide variety of constructions. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional sandal 10 includes a strapping system 12 secured to a sole 14. The sole 14 engages the wearer""s foot and forms the wear surface of the sandal 10. The strapping system 12 secures the sole 14 to the wearer""s foot, typically using separate ankle 16, heel 17 and forefoot 18 straps. The ankle 16 and heel 17 straps are located in the ankle region of the sandal 10, and are adapted to securely strap about the wearer""s heel and ankle. With high performance sandals, it is desirable for the ankle 16 and heel 17 straps to not only secure the sandal 10 to the wearer""s ankle, but also to provide lateral ankle support. The ankle 16 and heel 17 straps can be affixed directly to the sole 14 or to conventional support members, typically called posts, extending upwardly on opposite side of the sole 14. The forefoot strap 18 is disposed in the forefoot region of the sandal 10, and is adapted to strap over the top of the wearer""s foot generally in the ball region of the foot.
The straps are secured to the sole primarily using one of two different construction techniques. The first of these techniques is a stitching technique in which the lower ends of the straps or the posts are stitched directly to the sole. This construction is illustrated in FIGS. 2A-B, which show a second sandal 10xe2x80x2 having a sole 14xe2x80x2, an ankle strap 16xe2x80x2, a heel strap 17xe2x80x2 and a forefoot strap 18xe2x80x2. As shown, the straps are secured to the sole by a row of stitches 20. The stitches 20 extends on an angle from the upper surface of the sole 12 to the side surface of the sole 12 (See FIG. 2B). This technique is relatively inexpensive, however, it may not provide the durability needed for certain applications. Further, this technique is essentially limited to use with strap materials that are capable of being stitched, such as leather, woven or textile straps. This construction technique is not well suited for use with rigid, non-pliable materials. Because of the inherent flexible nature of conventional stitchable materials, stitched ankle strap constructions typically provide little lateral ankle support. In some applications, the stitching is replaced by staples or tacks. In general, these alternative constructions suffer from the same problems as the stitched construction.
A second technique for securing the straps to the sole is an adhesive construction in which the strap ends are cemented or adhesively secured to the sole. A conventional adhesive construction is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 3. As shown, the sole 22 includes a midsole 24 and an outsole 26. In this type of construction, the ankle and heel straps are typically mounted atop a pair of upright portions 28 that extends up from opposite sides of the sole 22. The upright portions 28 (along with any desired lining material, such as neoprene lining 29) extend down through slots 32 in the midsole 24 and are adhesively secured to the undersurface 30 of the midsole 24. The outsole 26 is adhesively secured to the bottom surface of the midsole 24 to form the wear surface of the sole 22 and to entrap the ends of the posts 28. The adhesive construction generally provides improved durability and is well suited for use with relatively rigid post materials, such as thermoplastic elastomers. Nonetheless, this type of construction still fails to provide the lateral ankle support desired in many applications because the upright portions 28 are subject to significant lateral deflection. To reduce this lateral deflection, efforts have been made to replace or bolster the upright portions 28 with substantially rigid posts, for example, rigid polymeric components that are affixed to and extend upwardly from the sole. The ankle and heel straps can be affixed to the top of the posts or the posts can simply be secured to the upright portions to reduce their susceptibility to lateral deflection. Although an improvement over other conventional constructions in terms of lateral stiffness, conventional post constructions still fail to provide the desired lateral support for many applications.
The aforementioned problems are overcome by the present invention, which provides a sandal having a pair of rigid posts; each affixed to the sole at two distinct and laterally spaced locations. In a preferred embodiment, the posts each have a generally xe2x80x9cinverted Y-shape,xe2x80x9d with a first leg secured to the sole in a first location and a second leg secured to the sole at a second location laterally spaced from the first location.
In a more preferred embodiment, the inner leg of the post extends through a slot in the sole and is adhesively secured to the undersurface of the midsole while the outer leg extends along and is adhesively secured to the side surface of the sole. The sole may define a recess to receive the outer leg. Securing the outer leg to the side surface of the sole rather than within a second slot provides maximum spacing between the inner and outer legs, and hence increases stability.
The present invention provides a durable sandal construction that is easily manufactured using conventional apparatus. The laterally spaced, two-point attachment of the sandal posts provides the sandal with significant lateral ankle support. The present invention also provides aesthetic benefits by permitting the post to extend down over the side surface of the sole.
These and other objects, advantages, and features of the invention will be readily understood and appreciated by reference to the detailed description of the preferred embodiment and the drawings.